Refrigerating apparatus



March 17, 1936.

REFRIGERAT ING APPARATUS Original Filed July 3,. 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet lR. E. GOULD 2,034,138

March 17, 1936.

R. E. GOULD 7 2,034,138

REFRIGERATING APPARATUS OriginalFilecl July 3, 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 2mygmi 5,

ATTORNEYS Patented Mar. 17, 1936 REFRIGERATING APPARATUS Richard E.Gould, Dayton, Ohio, assignor, by

mesne assignments, to General Motors Corporation, a corporation ofDelaware Application July 3, 1931, Serial No. 548,590 Renewed December30, 1932 tus and more particularly to insulated cabinets and to methodsof constructing such insulated cabinets.

The objects of my invention include: an improved insulated cabinetconstruction wherein the walls are formed of a plurality of air spaces,lined by sheets of bright metallic foil; an improved constructionwherein spacers are provided between such set of adjacent sheets of foiland wherein means are provided for supporting the spacers in position;an improved construction of spacer elements for the sheets of foilwhereby the sheets may be formed by winding a continuous strip of foilcontinuously around four sides of the cabinet; and an improved methodofcabinet construction wherein the lining is bounded by a plurality of airspaces by winding a continuous strip of bright metallic foil around thelining.

Further objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparentfrom the following description, reference being had to the accompanyingdrawings, wherein a preferred form of the present invention is clearlyshown.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a vertical section through a portion of a refrigerator cabinetalong the lines ll of Fig. 3;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged section of an upper corner of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a section along the line 33 of Fig. 1, and

Fig. 4 is asection along the line E4 of Fig. 1.

My invention is herein applied to refrigerator cabinet construction forillustrative purposes. In Fig. 1, for example, the cabinet generallydesignated at I0 includes a food compartment 20 and a machinerycompartment 28'. The lower supporting frame construction 2| supports thedoor sill frame 22. The inner liner 23 of the food storage compartment20 is made in one piece and is secured at its front edges to the doorsill frame 22 in any suitable manner. Surrounding the inner liner 23 onits top, bottom, rear and side panels is insulation comprising aplurality of air spaces 51 lined by sheets of bright metallic foil. Inorder to provide air spaces between the sheets of bright metallic foil24 surrounding the top, bottom and sides of the inner lining 20, aplurality of spacing members 25, preferably of wood, are provided at theintersections of each side of the inner lining. These spacing membersare supported by slots 26 in the corners of the door sill frame 22 andby slots 21 in the ears 28 which are held by the sheet metal brackets 58fastened to the outside of the rear wall of the inner liner 23 at thecorners. These slots extend outwardly from the intersection of the innerliner at an angle of 45. The ears 28 are formed of a material having alow conducting value such as wood or cardboard. The ends of the spacingmembers are held within the slots 26 and 2'! to provide a lateralsupport for the spacing members so as to hold them in superimposedrelation. The sheets 24 of bright metallic foil are positioned betweenthe adjacent spacing members and extend between the various groups ofspacing members at the different intersections of the walls of the innerlining 23.

The sheets of foil are preferably placed in spaced relation about theinner lining 23 by a winding method. One end of the foil is preferablyattached to the inner lining and the foil wound about over each of theinnermost spacing members 29, then the second set of spacing members 30are placed in the slots on top of the first layer of winding 3i, andthen the second turn of winding is wound over the second set of spacingmembers to wind the second turn 32 of foil, and after this the third setof spacing members 33 are placed in their respective slots on top of thesecond turn 32 of foil and the winding continued in this fashion untilthe desired number of layers are wound. If desired, the sheets of foilmay be bonded to the spacing members by a suitable glue or cement.

In order to provide insulation for the back of the food storagecompartment 20, a wooden frame 34 is provided for holding a plurality ofsheets of bright metallic foil spaced by air. The frame 34 comprises apair of widely spaced uprights 35 positioned against the outer sides ofthe cabinet and connected by cross strips at their upper and lower endsto provide a rectangular frame. At thesides of the uprights adjacenttheir upper and lower corners are provided wooden or cardboard plates 36(see Fig. 2) having a plurality of slots 31 therein. Within these slots31 are held the spacing members 38. These spacing members 33 extendacross the top and bottom frame 34 and have their ends supported in theslots 31 within the plates 36. Sheets of foil 39 are stretched betweencorresponding upper and lower spacing members so that a plurality ofsheets of foil spaced by air spaces are provided.

The frame 34 together with the foil thereon is preferably constructedbefore attaching to the cabinet by a winding method. In this method oneend of the foil is first attached to one of the cross pieces connectingthe uprights and the foil is wound first about the rectangular frameformed by the uprights 35 and the connecting cross pieces and then theinner set of spacing members 39 and 40 are inserted in their respectiveslots and the foil is wound about these inner sets of spacing membersand after completing the turn about the inner spacing members, the outerset of spacing members 4| and 42 are put in place and the foil is woundabout the outer sheets of spacing members. This construction provides aplurality of sheets of bright metallic foil spaced by air. After theloose end of the wound foil is fastened, the frame 34 together with thefoil wound thereon is placed in its proper position adjacent the back ofthe inner lining 23.

In order to maintain the proper thickness of air spaces between thevarious strips of foil, corrugated cardboard spacing members 56 may bescattered between the various layers of foil. This prevents the rattlingor the so-called metal cry of the foil. If desired, the spacing members56 may be glued to the foil before or during winding.

An outer liner 45 surrounds the insulation adjacent the inner liner andhas its front end fastened to the door sill frame 22. This outer liner45 is put in place after the insulation has been wound about the innerliner and. the frame 34 has been put in its place. Chipboard 46surrounds the exposed portions of the outer liner 45 and a sheet metalcovering 41, coated with a desirable finish such as porcelain, isprovided on top of the chipboard 46. The door sill frame 22 is similarlycovered to provide a similar type of finish and issimilarly providedwith chipboard and a sheet metal covering coated with porcelain. Thedoor 48 is provided with inner and outer sheet metal walls and ispreferably insulated by spaced sheets of bright metallic foil upon aframe similar to the frame 35. By this type of construction the cabinetmay be insulated by an easy and rapid method.

While the form of embodiment of the invention as herein disclosedconstitutes a preferred form, it is to be understood that other formsmight be adopted, all coming within the scope of the claims whichfollow.

What is claimed is as follows:

1. A cabinet including spaced inner and outer walls, an insulatingstructure between said walls, said insulating structure comprising aplurality of spaced apart metal surfaced heat reflecting sheets, a pairof spacers between each set of adjacent sheets and means carried by saidinner wall for laterally supporting one spacer of each pair.

2. A cabinet including spaced inner and outer walls, an insulatingstructure between said walls, said structure including a plurality ofspaced sheets of bright metallic foil, spacers between adjacent sheets,a bracket secured to said inner wall, and means carried by said bracketfor supporting said spacers in position.

3. A cabinet including spaced inner and outer walls, an insulatingstructure between said walls, said structure including a continuouslayer of bright metallic foil wound around said inner wall to form aplurality of spaced sheets, spacers between adjacent sheets, and asingle means carried by said inner wall for supporting said spacers inposition.

4. A cabinet including spaced inner and outer walls, an insulatingstructure between said walls,

.said structure including a continuous strip of bright metallic foilwound about said inner wall to form a plurality of spaced sheets,spacers between adjacent sheets, a bracket secured to said inner wall,and means carried by said bracket for supporting said spacers inposition.

5. An insulated storage cabinet having a plurality of intersecting innerwalls, a plurality of superimposed spacing members at saidintersections, guide means supported by said inner walls for laterallysupporting said spacing members in superimposed relation, and a sheet ofbright metallic foil stretched between sets of spacing members at saidintersections, said sheet being positioned between adjacent spacingmembers.

6. An insulated cabinet including a plurality of intersecting innerwalls, means having a plurality of slots at the intersections of thewalls said slots extending outwardly from said intersections, aplurality of spacing members in said slots, and a continuous strip ofbright metallic foil wound spirally around said inner walls between eachpair of said spacing members for providing a plurality of spacedportions of said strip.

7. An insulated cabinet having a plurality of intersecting inner walls,a plurality of spaced sheets of bright metallic foil surrounding saidinner walls, means for spacing said sheets adjacent the intersections ofsaid inner walls, and a plurality of individual spacing means scatteredbetween said sheets for spacing said sheets and for preventing metalcry.

8. An insulating structure including a plurality of sheets of foil,spacers between each set of adjacent sheets, saidspacers extendingacross the sheets from one edge to the other, and means engaging onlythe exposed end portions of the spacers for holding the spacers inposition, said sheets extending between and being held between thespacers.

9. An insulating structure including a plurality of metal surfaced heatreflecting sheets extending in planes parallel to one another, aplurality of spacers located between two sheet portions and extendingacross the sheets from one edge of the sheets to the other, said spacersbeing positioned in alignment one on top of another, said sheetsextending-between the spacers and means engaging only the end portionsof the spacers for laterally supporting the spacers to hold them inalignment.

10. An insulating structure including a plurality of sheets of foilextending in planes parallel to one another, a plurality of spacersextending between the sheets from' one edge of the sheets to the other,said spacers having end portions extending beyond the edges of thesheets, and means engaging the portions of the spacers extending beyondthe edges of the sheets to hold the spacers in position.

11. An insulating structure including a plurality of sheets of foilextending in planes parallel to one another, a plurality of spacersextending between the sheets from one edge of the sheets to the other,said spacers having end portions extending beyond the edges of thesheets, and means engaging theportions of the spacers extending beyondthe edges of the sheets to hold the spacers in position and a pluralityof small individual spacing means scattered between the sheets of foilfor preventing metallic clrly and for supporting sagging portions of thes eets.

12. An insulating structure including a plutop of the other, means forlaterally supporting the spacers to hold the spacers in alignment one ontop of the other, and a metal surfaced heat reflecting sheet extendingaround and between the spacers to provide portions of the sheets spacedby air spaces, said spacers extending across the sheet from one edge toanother.

13. An insulating structure including a plurality of sets of spacers,each set being located a distance from the other, each set beingcomposed of a plurality of individual spacers one on top of the other,means for laterally supporting the spacers to hold the spacers inalignment one on top of the other, and a sheet extending around andbetween the spacers to provide portions of the sheets spaced by airspaces, said spacers extending across the sheet from one edge toanother.

14. An insulating structure including a plurality of sets of spacers,each set being located a distance from the other, each set beingcomposed of a plurality of individual spacers one on top of the other,means engaging only the end portions of the spacers to hold the spacersin alignment one on top of the other, and a sheet wound around andbetween the spacers to provide sheets spaced by air spaces, said spacersextending across the sheet from onefedge to another.

15. An insulating structure including a plurality of sheets, spacersbetween each set of adjacent sheets, supporting means contacting withopposite sides of the spacers for holding said spacers in alignment oneon top of the other,

said sheets extending between and being held between the spacers toprovide narrow air spaces between the sheets, said spacers extendingacross the sheets from one edge portion to another.

RICHARD E. GOULD.

